Australian stocks have ended their losing streak, with every sector closing higher as investors cheered a recovery on Wall Street.

US stocks were buoyed by a strong retail sales report and a profit from the global banking giant Citigroup, with the optimism flowing through to Australia.

The All Ordinaries index gained 0.5 per cent to close at 5,380 and the ASX 200 index added 29 points to finish at 5,388.

Shares in Sydney Airport Holdings, which operates Sydney's sole airport, closed down one per cent at $4.10 after the federal government confirmed it had approved a second airport for the city at Badgerys Creek.

Commonwealth Bank shares rose 0.5 per cent to $76.90 on the day a major technical fault brought down most of its banking services around the country.

The bank's customers took to Twitter complaining of being unable to use ATMs, EFTPOS, internet and mobile phone banking.

CBA says the technical fault has been resolved and it is gradually restoring all services.

The other big banks all posted similar gains with Westpac leading the way, up 0.6 per cent to $34.37.

Mining stocks were in focus after Rio Tinto's first quarter production fell just short of some analysts' expectations.

But investors were not impressed and Australia's second biggest mining company was the weakest of the big miners, rising 0.09 of a per cent to $63.35.

Its main rival BHP Billiton fared better with a gain of 1.1 per cent to $37.78.

In economic news, the Reserve Bank's minutes from the most recent board meeting show the RBA still thinks a period of stability for interest rates is best for the economy.

The board says the dollar's resurgence in the past two months will hamper the rebalancing of the economy more than previously expected.

The Australian dollar eased slightly against the greenback after the RBA minutes were released.

At 5pm [AEST] it was buying 93.9 US cents, 67.9 euro cents, 95.5 Japanese yen and 56.2 British pence.

In commodity trading, the spot price of gold has eased to $US1314 an ounce. West Texas crude oil closed higher at $US104.03 a barrel, and in Singapore Tapis crude is slightly higher at $US112.99 a barrel.